Improving Survivor Services

Current Programs

Improving Service Delivery to Cancer Survivors in Primary Care Settings

Two-thirds of cancer patients live at least 5 years after diagnosis and many live for decades after treatment. The number of cancer survivors in the U.S. is estimated to be 14 million and is expected to increase to 18 million by 2020. An aging Texas population as well as continued improvements in early detection and treatment will further increase the number of Texans who will have been successfully treated. The expected increase in the number of cancer patients will be cared for by what is predicted to be a declining number of oncology specialists. Evidence based preventive services are an important component of care intended to maximize survival and improve quality of life, however, they are utilized at less than recommended levels.

Program Goals & Objectives

The primary aim of the project is to improve use of evidence based cancer preventive services for adult individuals who have completed active treatment for cancer in primary care residency training practices.

Objective 1: Increase percentage of evidence based preventive services delivered to cancer survivors across all cancer survivors on practice survivor registries from baseline (TBD) to 80% by June 1, 2018.
Baseline (or plans to establish baseline): We will work with partnering practices to query the electronic medical records to establish their baseline levels at project start.
Measure: Electronic medical records review.